During the construction of buildings, formwork is used in concrete construction to provide a mould or a surface onto which wet concrete can be poured for forming of features such as floor slabs and beams for example. In the case of floor slabs, it is common for floors of a multi-story building to be formed sequentially and for formwork to be set out on a preceding floor in order to form the subsequent higher floor.
Generally, a frame or scaffold is used to support elevated forms comprising either lost (i.e. not reusable) formwork, or a formwork that can be removed from the concrete slab once the concrete is set, and be reused. Reusable formwork may comprise aluminium formwork pans which are supported at the top of the scaffolding. Alternatively, sheets or boards supported on bearers may be used at the top of the framework.
The aluminium formwork pans are normally rectangular in plan form and have lips or edges extending downwardly from the formwork surface. These aluminium pans can be supported via ‘crowns’-forks positioned atop scaffold uprights or props, and comprising four upwardly directed fingers extending from a single vertical support, each of which support a corner of four adjoining aluminium pans. These crowns are ill equipped to support anything other than these aluminium formwork pans.
It is against this background and the problems and difficulties associated therewith that the present invention has been developed.
Certain objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.